About the founder

I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, South America and even as a child I dreamed of coming to the United States. Because of that early passion and determination my mother used to tell me I was born in the wrong nest. I came to the USA as an exchange student in 1981, but returned to Bogota to attend the University, where I earned two masters degrees, one in Business and one in International Marketing. I loved the US as a teenager, but also knew that I needed to complete my education, and the University in Bogotá was the only option my Mother gave me. However, the moment I graduated, I was back on a plane to the United States, through lots of tears and protests from my family.

In my heart I knew that regardless of my energy, passion, and education, in Colombia I could never have the life of freedom and achievement that I had dreamed of, and I was determined to find and live what I have come to call the ‘Latin American Dream’.

Though I knew it would not be an easy transition, primarily because I spoke little to no English and had no money, I was a man with a mission!

Even with my education the only job I could find was busing in a restaurant for $3.25 per hour and that was a very difficult thing for me to accept. However, I was living in a great country where I could walk down the street without fear and jog on the bike path and feel totally safe. Whatever the sacrifice monetarily in the beginning, it was clearly worth it!

So I made up my mind to work hard, be the very best busboy, cook, or waiter in the city, learn the language, and look for new opportunities. You just never know how that opportunity is going to come to you, and if you’re not watching closely you might miss it altogether. It might come from a want ad in the paper, a stranger on the street, or the friend of a friend. My opportunity came in the form of a real estate broker who I was serving in the restaurant, who had a Hispanic client that didn’t speak English. He asked if I would be willing to translate for him, which I did, and soon after he encouraged me to get my real estate license.

And that is where my story really begins!........Passing a test in English while I was only learning the language, and interviewing and getting a real estate sales job, even though the broker openly admits today that she hired me because of my passion and desire to do the job, not because she thought I would be successful. She could hardly understand my broken English, and felt I would have a very difficult time communicating with clients. What she didn’t know was that there were hundreds and thousands of clients out there that she didn’t even really know about ……………….they were Hispanics, I reached out to them, and I communicated with them just fine!

I loved sales and I loved working with and helping the Hispanic community, and they helped me to achieve my lofty goals, break some company records, and receive numerous local and national awards. I was named ‘Rookie of the Year, selling 84 homes in my first year, and sold over 120 homes every year thereafter. I am a member of Century 21’s Hall of Fame, and was named ‘Today’s Realtor’ by the National Association of Realtors in 1997, gracing the cover of the January issue of Today’s Realtor Magazine.

After achieving and exceeding my goals in real estate, I realized that I could do so much more and touch so many more Hispanic’s lives in a positive way by starting my training and coaching company, Business for Life………….. to help more and more professional people and corporations do what I did, achieve what I call the Latin American dream, which was simply achieve your goals by reaching out to the Latin community and to treat each person the way that we all want to be treated, with respect, compassion, and appreciation

Today I teach corporations how to build Latin Divisions within their companies so they can better service their local Hispanic communities. I, also, help major corporations attract and hire good, quality Latin/Hispanic employees and then I train and coach those people in sales and service…………capturing the business, servicing it impeccably, and growing it through systems and accountability. I’m a warm, compassionate person, but I’m also a numbers man, and I accept no excuses. I expect everyone to give 110% and I’ll give back 150%. I really want to see each and every person succeed, and I know that I can’t do that without a strong commitment from my trainees…….I can show them how to do it, but I can’t do it for them.

I let them know it isn’t easy, that it takes a lot of hard work, but the thing that I do best of all is that I make them believe that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. I believe it because I know it, and, consequently, I can motivate others to build a dream that they might never have before imagined and then I show them how to make that dream come true.

I believe that you can make a living by what you get but you can make a life by what you give. As I look at our world, specially in the United States, I realize that I not only have an opportunity to help corporations increase their Hispanic market share and Hispanics their Latin American dream, but that I have a responsibly to share what I have learned with our future generations, the children. I have written the first bilingual children’s life coaching book, which teaches children to just be, to accept and respect themselves for who they are, love life and celebrate diversity. Regardless of our nationality, or cultural background we all can speak the same language, a language of appreciation and respect. By the way, the blonde haired, blue eyed real estate broker who almost didn’t hire me is now my wife. I love the work I do and I’m enjoying and appreciating my life every day. I am truly living the ‘Latin American Dream’

Bee Prepared